UTILITIES EXPERT MATTHEW HOLDEN JR. NAMED TO
NATIONAL TASK FORCE ON ELECTRIC SYSTEM RELIABILITY

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Dec. 14 -- Matthew Holden Jr., a
professor of government at the University of Virginia, has been
named to the U.S. Department of Energy's Task Force on Electric
System Reliability. The task force was created partly in response to
the blackout that occurred on the West Coast earlier this year. 
	The purpose of the task force is to provide information and
recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board on
the reliability of bulk electricity systems in the United States.
Chaired by Phil Sharp, a former Congressman (D-Indiana) and former
professor of political science now at Harvard University's Kennedy
Institute of Politics, the task force is made up of 21 members from
the electric power industry, environmental groups and academe. 
	Holden, who specializes in public administration, is a
former commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(1977-81), a former commissioner of the Public Service Commission of
Wisconsin (1975-77), and currently serves as a director of Atlantic
Energy Inc., a major power company based in Pleasantville, N.J. 
	He is mentioned in a number of directories of prominent
Americans, including "Who's Who Among Black Americans" (3rd edition,
Marquis) and "Who's Who in America" (44th edition, Marquis). 
	Holden's many publications include the just-published book,
"Continuity and Disruption: Essays in Public Administration"; and
articles, such as "The Energy Problem in the American Democracy," in
The Crisis, March 1980; "The Presidency and the Regulatory Process:
Energy," in Governance VI New Insights of Governance: Theory and
Practice, 1995; "The Regulatory Process and the Politics of Energy,"
in The Institutional and Political Challenges of Energy Politics,
1982; and "The Utility Problem and the Energy Problem," in
Challenges for Public Utility Regulation in the 1980s, 1981. 
	Holden received his bachelor's degree from Roosevelt
University and his master's and doctoral degrees in political
science from Northwestern University. Before coming to U.Va., he
taught at Wayne State University and the University of Pittsburgh.
	He can be reached for comment on a broad array of issues
affecting the electric utility industry, including questions of
deregulation, at (804) 924-3422, office; (804) 296-3649, home; and
at mh3q@virginia.edu. 
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December 13, 1996
	For more information about U.Va.'s business resources, call
Charlotte Crystal at (804) 924-6858.  Television reporters should
contact our TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.

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